Sonic Adventure 2: Mobius Files
by Guardian of Balance
Summary: Sonic is a little down and out after loosing his freedom as a knight. But after being kidnapped by humans from the United Federation he has no time to mope around! Just who is that mysterious black hedgehog and why is he hanging around Eggman? With Amy and Tails by his side, he's going to find out! My adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 within the comic books.
1. Stroke of Luck

Bored and stuck with this idea...again...

Actually this is sort of a newer idea and has little to nothing to do with Shad/Amy (for once). I'm planning on rewriting Sonic Adventure 2!

(crowd boos and hisses)

Ya ya, I know. Redos and reimaginings of videogames, movies or other media rarely go well here but I've been giving this a lot of thought and I think I can pull this off while still staying true to both original concepts. I say both because I plan to mesh both the videogame and the comic adaptation of the game.

(Boos and hisses grow louder)

Ya ya, Alysa's stuck on the comics again. But really, I think that they should be given a closer look at. Maybe it has something to do with spending three bucks an issue (seriously guys...that's 36 bucks a year...less than what a brand new Sonic game would be, it's almost half that if you get a full year's subscription). Either way I always found the story of the comics much more engaging and fun to follow...

...That is until I started reading the game adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. It just came across as lazy, not well thought out (hate to say it but the artwork just wasn't Sonic...it was nice and dark but more Batman that Sonic. Maybe I'm just a die hard Yardley fan...), and just did not fit into the continuity very well. It was just there one issue and then it went back to the story thus far with just a wagging finger and lecture from Sonic's parents. Literally! He and Tails climbed through the window of Sonic's room in the middle of the night after their respective adventures (yes adventures, Tails was off fighting Chaos Knuckles...long story). Then Sonic's parents burst in and bust them.

So then why bother rewriting it when I have the beautiful story of the videogame to look at? Well...it's not entirely perfect. There are some plot holes that I want to mend to help explain the story more. Was it fun to follow? Hells ya! But there's things that I want to address, like GUN NOT taking down the Space Colony Ark when they found out about the mega weapons (They didn't know aliens were coming to visit or the Professor's plans to kill them with said weapons) especially since the professor was so HORRIBLY CRAZY ANGRY that he had programmed a colony drop once a specific energy type had been gathered! There are a few other things I plan to address as well, but I don't want to spoil too much for you (then again, this is an adaptation we are all familiar with, but I digress)

So I plan to mesh the best of both worlds going through my version of what the comic adaptation of the game should have been like. It will be placed where it was before: between issues 97 and 99.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant! And without further ado, this is the comic fanfic adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2!

* * *

He was getting an odd sense of deja vu...

Yes, there had been several times in his life where he found himself in heavily wooded areas running for his life. The last time he could recall running for his life towards the Acorn Kingdom. There, he had been saved by Julius and Charles the Hedgehog, led back to Mobotropolis, and eventually became the ruler of the world. Oh what irony was beheld when he discovered this alternate universe in which he had not succeeded. It had dangled in front of him tauntingly. A challenge too huge to ignore. So far, there had been little to no success.

It had been a while since his last attempt at world domination. Chaos had failed him and nearly destroyed the world. Both Eggcarriers were destroyed and there seemed little hope for him to continue his conquest. So he decided to take some time for introspection. Being a creature of metal and circuitry he had no need for rest and he could evaluate all situations with the utmost diligence. Still nothing truly came to him until his brother and the other Overlanders came to stay in Robotropolis.

Colin had invited his brother and son to have dinner with him and his family. It was all a monotonous blur to Eggman, just an obsticle keeping him from his goal of robotocizing the lot of them. Not to mention the useless tango to convince his family that he was actually eating. They still didn't know he and Snively had been roboticized. It wasn't until they started talking about older family memories that things got interesting.

"Well, you wouldn't remember Grandfather Gerald," Colin had commented, "He died when I was young but I remember everyone getting so upset about the whole thing. He was a bio-engineer working up in a space colony. I remember hearing that there was an accident but everything else about the matter was kept quiet by the United Federation..."

Hearing about the UF, Eggman's interest had been piqued and he began to do extensive research into the matter. It was through those means that he came into the posession of his grandfather's digital diary. Its contents were well worth the hour of hacking necessary to retrieve it. It described an ultimate weapon, called Project Shadow; capable of bringing the entire world to its knees. There were no coordinates as to the location and the information could not be obtained properly from Robotropolis...

Leading to this...his former creation Silver Sonic v.2.0 chasing him through the forests on the outskirts of the United Federation's infamous Prison Island.

"Blast it Snively, where is that back up pod?" he cried out into his spotty connection to his nephew/minion, "I needed it 10 minutes ago."

"Sir... trying but you're over... away from Rob...opolis!" Snively called back, "I...time! Pod...soon..."

The connection began to crackle in and out again. Damn these forests and damn that incompetent Snively!

Robo-Robotnik, now Dr. Eggman, was grateful for his new metal form. It would have been nearly impossible to run as nimbly through the dense forest as he did now with his former robust figure. Still, he was running steadily lower on energy and he knew that if he didn't find some salvation soon Silver Sonic would bear down on him and he would be finished. He had wanted to send some of his robotic lackeys here...But who was he kidding? Since when had any of his robots been able to get the job done properly. No, this mission needed a more personal touch. Still, he could have thought this through a little more thoroughly. While he was prepared for some sort of security, he wasn't planning on Silver Sonic being there. His Egg Pod was now in ruins and while he had a chaos emerald on him, his body simply wasn't built to be compatible with it's energy. Had he taken the time to finish his Egg Walker Silver Sonic would have been scrap metal by now. Alas, neither was of any help to him and it seemed there was no escape for him.

He turned around the trunk of a tree. He hoped it would throw off his opponent, if only to give him a moment to focus on a plan of escape.

The ground caved beneath his feet three steps away from where he turned. His fall was recorded as a 46.3 foot drop. Enough to break bones and kill him...if he had any life to give or bones to break. Still, Eggman landed poorly and it was enough to set his CPU into a frenzy. He quickly got up to blend into the shadows of his new environment. He heard the light vibration of Silver Sonic overhead for a few minutes before it passed over. Eggman felt a shaky grin grow on his face.

Eggman gingerly looked up to the hole he had just fallen through, "That was too close," he murmured to himself.

Eggman to take in his surroundings. It was large room, almost the size of a small warehouse. The walls were lined with servers, the lights giving off an almost cosmic look to the place. Just to Eggman's right was a large computer, just akimbo to a large coffin like capsule.

"Could it truly be...?"

He walked slowly to the computer, his former danger and failed connection to Snively long forgotten. He tapped at it experimentally before the screen blazed to life. He then stroked his mustache in thought, "Enter User Data? Ah...Gerald Robotnik?"

Eggman smirked, "Could fate really be this good to me?"

He quickly typed the password from his memory banks, "M-A-R-I-A. Maria."

The computer whirred to life and he was greeted with a wall of information...

For a few moments before the computer screen went black.

Eggman snarled as he slammed the console, "Blast! Out of power."

Still his mind worked through the few possibilities available to him at the moment. He looked over the console before he came across a small nodule on the key board.

"But luck may still be on my side?"

He reached into his pocket and took hold of the chaos emerald hidden in his pocket. He placed it into the nodule, a perfect fit. The computer whirred to back to life as he took a step back, allowing the information to wash over him.

Suddenly there was a hiss behind him. Eggman turned to see the capsule beginning to raise above him. Apprehensive as he was, he was more fascinated than afraid at this.

"Ooho..."

The column rose ten feet above his head before it finally stopped with a click. The top of the column hissed as the tip opened to reveal a dark form rising smoothly from the capsule along with a plume of thick vapor. Actually the form looked rather an awful lot like...

Eggman snarled, "What's that? Is that you, Sonic! Are you trying to foil my plans again!?"

Suddenly he paused as he took in more of the form's appearance. The form was a hedgehog, roughly the same age and height as Sonic. But it most definitely wasn't Sonic. His quills were a midnight black with scarlet red streaks going through them. His arms and legs were the same: black with red shot down the sides. A white tuft of fur on his chest shot through the darkness, along with his bright, red eyes and bright white, red and black shoes and gloves. He wore what seemed like power rings on his wrists, which are folded over his chest with a smirk on his tanned muzzle.

"Wait a minute...you're not Sonic," Eggman breathed, "This is impossible..."

The dark hedgehog regarded him coolly, his smirk growing on his face as a deep, strangly melodic voice said, "My name is Shadow."

He then unfolded his hands, "Since you were so kind as to release me, my master, I will grant you one wish."

Suddenly a roaring sound came from above them as the light from the hole in the ceiling flickered.

Silver Sonic had finally found him.

"Primary target finally cornered," it said monotonously, "Come quietly Dr. Eggman."

Eggman was frozen in place for a moment before he could put two and two together.

"Is that so? Well then, Shadow, prove your worth to the Eggman Empire! Destroy Silver Sonic!"

It was only then that Silver Sonic saw the hedgehog above him. Shadow regarded the metal Sonic with a growing sneer. Using his height to his advantage, he threw himself against Silver Sonic in a homing attack. Silver Sonic was pushed back and against the wall as Shadow continued his barrage. Silver Sonic was pinned, but then Shadow was barely making a dent on his armor. Using Shadow's next homing attack, Silver Sonic used his arm to bat him away. He then set his boosters ablaze to ram at Shadow full speed. Shadow simply twisted out of the way, using his own momentum to kick Silver Sonic into the opposite wall of the lab. Shadow's gaze then fixed himself on the Chaos emerald in the console. He sped across the room and grabbed the jewel, allowing its power to envelope itself around him.

Silver Sonic was struggling to regain its footing when he saw Shadow coming towards him, "You will not succeed. I will not allow..."

With yet another sneer, Shadow held out his hand. A yellow arrow had formed just outside of his hand, "I am the Ultimate Life form. You are simply no match for me. Accept your fate."

He brought the hand crashing down. It exploded upon impact with the robot, sending debris flying all across the room. Shadow didn't flinch as some of the debris crashed into him. He didn't have a single scratch on him. He turned to see Eggman inspecting a piece of debris from Silver Sonic, what used to be his head.

"A tracker," he finally said, "They'll find out you're loose in a moment. I must say Shadow, you do some impressive work. You were a lot smaller than I expected. However, I believe you'll make an excellent addition to my plans."

Shadow looked at Eggman for a moment, measuring the doctor up. Eggman shifted uneasily for a moment, suddenly remembering just who was in who's mercy at the moment. Shadow's gaze eased up with small smirk.

"You have a plan?" Shadow asked easily, "Because I have a better one."

Eggman's face fell in a frown, "You question my genius?"

"I question your ability to get out of this hole on your own," Shadow fixed his gaze on the emerald, "If you wish, I have much to show you. I am not the only one of the Professor's creations."

Now that caught Eggman's attention, "...Just what did you mean when you said you would grant me a wish...Shadow?"

Shadow's eyes shot up from the emerald to regard Eggman again. He walked towards Eggman, holding his hand out silently. Eggman took it tentatively, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Shadow then raised the emerald above his head and cried, "Chaos Control!"

A bright green light flashed around them as Eggman felt himself being pulled. It wasn't in any specific direction, it was just a pull in all directions it seemed. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling, but when the pull subsided he found himself on a sand dune just a few hundred yards outside of an old pyramid in the middle of a desert.

"There is a teleporter within the pyramid," Shadow pointed, "You'll need to make your way inside from here."

Eggman regarded the pyramid for a moment, "I'll need some supplies. Head to Robotropolis and..."

"We need more chaos emeralds first," Shadow interrupted, "I've got my own...errands to run. Take all the time you wish. But I will be waiting for you in the Central Control Room on the Space Colony Ark."

"So you're just going to leave me here!?" Eggman fumed, "You impertinent little...How dare you talk that way to your master!?"

Shadow glared back at Eggman for a moment before he held up the chaos emerald, "Patience," he said simply before he disappeared.

Eggman growled with impatience. He couldn't believe his grandfather would allow such a willful creature to exist.

"I'll deal with that later," Eggman decided as he reestablished his connection with Robotropolis, "Snively you useless twit, are you there?!"

"Sir! You're back? What happened?" Snively cried out through the now crystal clear connection, "The pod is still on it's way but...you're not transmitting from Prison Island? What's going on?!"

"Enough questions!" Eggman commanded, "Just send another pod to my new location. I have much work to do on the Egg Walker once I'm back. In the meantime, I want you to make preparations for my absence from Robotropolis for now. You will be in charge with keeping the sheep in line while I look into this Ultimate life form business."

"...Yes sir..." Snively said as he tapped buttons, "Anything else sir?"

Eggman paused for a moment before he added, "Look into the locations of other chaos emeralds. We're going to need their powers for this one. Eggman out!"

"Yes sir!"

The connection went out as Eggman looked over the pyramid, "Shadow the Hedgehog? Just what do you have planned for me, hmm?"

* * *

Central City Presidential Office

17:03

The president was in the middle of a huge nightmare. From the reports he had gotten from his commander, Hugo Brass, there had been a break-in at an old laboratory that once housed one of the greatest, if not more deranged, minds the world had ever seen. Silver Sonic had been destroyed and the city was now vulnerable. From what limited information he could gather, there was a weapon being housed there.

But such details were apparently above his own pay grade, "Damn you I'm the President of the United Federation, why can't you give me any more information than this?!"

"I'm sorry sir, this is strictly GUN business," Brass said, "But I can say this, we believe that Sonic the Hedgehog was responsible for this mess."

That gave the president pause, "Why?" he asked, "Why would a former ally suddenly turn rogue on us?"

"We can't say for sure," Brass commented, "From what my men can gather from Silver Sonic's wreckage, it was a hedgehog that dealt with him. I only know of one with those capabilities. For now, just trust that the GUN is on the case and will give you a detailed report once this has been dealt with."

With a final salute and without waiting to be dismissed, Brass left the President to stew in his own thoughts.

What he came up with was not good.

"I should be used to the GUN's ways at this point," he thought, "They keep their cards close but I should be able to know what's going on with their operations!"

He sighed, "Why Sonic? There must be something else going on here. But what?"

"Well, I can help you with that..." a voice purred behind him.

He turned sharply behind him to find a mobian bat woman standing behind him from an open window. She was of average height for a mobian, about 3 feet or so. She held herself with confidence and a smug air, her bright turquoise eyes half lidded with bright blue eye shadow to match. Her white hair and fur were pulled back into a short shoulder-length flip. Her muzzle, arms and chest were a sensuous bronze tan. She wasn't scantily clad, but it wasn't particularly modest either. She wore a rather bright jump suit that accentuated her breasts in the shape of a lavender heart outlined in white. The pants portioned looked to be a deep black spandex that hugged her voluptuous curves and plunged into her bright white boots with matching lavender hearts on each toe. Her hands, as most mobians tended to be, were covered with long ball room style gloves with lavender cuffs. One hand rested on her hip, stuck out in an leisurely way.

The President's eyes narrowed, "Who are you? How did you..."

"Now don't you worry your head over something like that," the bat purred again, "Just call me Rouge. And for a price, I can help you with your...information problem."

The President kept his eyes narrowed before he leaned back in his chair, his hands placed together thoughtfully, "How so?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Rouge beamed, "By trade, I'm a treasure hunter. While I specialize in jewels, I do tend to gather some...particularly interesting bits of information."

"Such as?"

"I know that Sonic the Hedgehog has been confined to the borders of Knothole village for a while now," Rouge shifted her hips, now focusing on her fingernails, or rather her gloved hands, "He wasn't there for that little...'break-in' as Commander Brass put it."

"How? And who do you think is responsible."

"Ah ah ah, not so fast," Rouge tutted the president, "You have to pay for that piece of information!"

He raised an eyebrow, "How much?"

Rouge smirked, "2lbs of jewels for every day that I'm out seeking your information. All must be cut and shined, nothing below precious or flawless level."

He paused for a moment, "You're the one responsible for that rash of break-ins within Station Square then?"

Rouge giggled, "Guilty as charged! So, how about we add a pardon to that list of demands and make it 1 and a half pounds a day instead."

It was tempting. He was quite tired of being kept out of the loop. And while he had his own spy network, he had a feeling they were all tied to GUN first and foremost. He hated the idea of throwing the hero of Station Square under the bus more than anything else of course.

Finally he nodded, "You have a deal then."

* * *

Rouge was soon outfitted with gadgets from the Secret Service branch of the UF government. From there she made a bee line towards the GUN headquarters. To anyone else, the odds of getting in would have been insurmountable. For Rouge, it was as though nothing was standing in her way as she dodged security guards, pickpocketed keys and hacked passwords through to the center of the building. Here she began hacking the information from Commander Brass's computer. What she found was rather vague but implied a rather disturbing picture of the GUN's methods.

It described a raid of the Space Colony Ark where a Project Shadow had been confiscated and brought to earth. When it had been made clear that the weapon could not be controlled the project had been discontinued. There was a casualty list attached to the closing notes of the project.

However, there was detailed information missing about Project Shadow. And from what she could tell from the files taken directly from Silver Sonic, it was in fact a very well known former overlander dictator that was involved in this mess, not Sonic.

"Guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way," she decided as she flew away from GUN headquarters. The night was slowly turning back into day as she land gently on a skyscraper and looked up at the sky, "Still, not bad for one night's work."

She then held her had up to her mouth and touched the near microscopic microphone hidden in her ear, "This is Rouge reporting. I'm sending information about a Project Shadow. I will continue my research into GUN's and Dr. Eggman's plans as I do so. In the meantime, it seems they've sent Paladin Team Sigma Alpha 2 to apprehend Sonic the Hedgehog as we speak. My suggestion is to allow them to apprehend Sonic without interference from the Presidency. The less they know about how much we know the better. Rouge out."

As she ended her report, she looked down at the information she had been able to print out at the last minute. From what she could tell about the Ark, there were only two ways to go up there. One was by space shuttle. Now she was good, but she wasn't good enough to pull a shuttle out of her back pocket.

But then she didn't need to do that...

The only other way was a portal that was located in one of GUN's desert bases in the badlands south of them.

She gave a small smirk as she made her way to her hideout in the city, "I better get beauty rest then! I've got a date with the doctor to plan out..."

* * *

The Great Forest

9:34

Sonic just was not in a good mood.

It wasn't that he cared all too terribly much about losing his knighthood but the fact that he was stuck inside Knothole was just about killing him. He also wasn't allowed to help out as a Freedom Fighter anymore. Not that it stopped him from going on his little jaunt as the Sneak last night to help the Royal Secret Service avoid a disaster.

"Not that Geoffry's going to appreciate it," he thought as he kicked a stone, "If I don't get home soon, he's going to arrest me. For what? Saving his skin..."

He slumped down on a nearby log, "Ok, so losing the sword of Acorns to Eggman wasn't the smartest thing I could have done...But what else could I do?! That's Uncle Chuck still stuck in there! Not to mention so many other robians. I was doing the right thing...right? And keeping me cooped up in the city for doing the best I could obviously wasn't the smartest thing he's done either."

He frowned and was up pacing as quickly and as quietly as he could before slumping down again, "Shoot...what I wouldn't give for a good run...just to get my thoughts in gear again..."

He was suddenly brought out of his reverie when he heard a rustling in the bushes to his left. He let out a sigh, hoping against hope that maybe it was a badnik he could smash. Then again, he knew better. A badnik this close to Knothole? As if...

"Alright then, come on out," he said half-heartedly, "I'm not going to do anything..."

Suddenly Sonic was surrounded by four overlanders in dark green and red armor. All of them were heavily armed, all weapons pointed at Sonic

"Freeze Hedgehog!" one of them cried, "You're coming with us!"

Sonic's eyes bugged out for a moment as he asked, "Have we met?"

Without question, the others started shooting at Sonic in the center. Instantly Sonic dodged and moved to each human in the circle, "You'd think I'd remember you guys! Oh well!"

"Where did he..."

The members of the paladin teamed stopped firing trying to get their eyes back on the speedster again. Suddenly they looked down and realized their weapons were missing.

"The better question is," Sonic commented on the pile of guns he was now standing on, "Where'd your weapons go?"

The men then charged Sonic, fat lot of good it did them as Sonic sped to the side away from the dog pile, twisting out of the way and kicking anyone close enough into a neat pile next to the guns behind him.

"Am I going to fast for you?" he asked tauntingly. He hadn't had so much fun in ages, "Seriously you gotta let me know these things! Wouldn't want to make you guys think you're not on top of the situation!"

His adversaries were now in a neat pile behind him and Sonic couldn't help but give a little laugh as one of them moaned, "Where...is he?"

"No contest!" he smirked, "Sorry guys, but I gotta juice!"

He didn't get the chance as off to the side, he saw a fifth overlander shoot something at him. A net quickly expanded and engulfed him before he had a chance to dodge. It let off a shock wave through his whole body as fell around him. Sonic gave one last cry before all of the events of the previous night, coupled with the net sent him into complete darkness.

"No more fast moves for this hog!" the overlander gloated, "Now let's get him to the chopper for immediate Evac! Commander Brass is waiting for him!"

* * *

So there's the first chapter of my newest project. Let me know what you think while I do a little more research as to how I'm going to either get Knuckles involved in this or find another way to help stop the chaos emeralds in the end.

Knuckles' involvement will revolve completely on how in control he was in his chaos state, which is where he is while all this is going on. Tails had been sent to go help him but I'm going to go ahead and retcon that for now. As I said, I'm going to do some digging and see how I can get our favorite red echidna in on the fun. Sit tight, I'll update my other works and this one all in good time!


	2. City Escape

Ok, so after a fairly decent amount of research, I've found that there is literally no way Knuckles could be in this without royally messing the dynamics up.

*crowd loudly boos*

I know I know, ok? But seriously, though. He's a _LIVING CHAOS EMERALD_! This, by the way is all before he dies! The Master Emerald is gone during this time, along with the island. So while it would feasibly give him a reason for shards of the Master Emerald being everywhere, it doesn't dismiss his god-like powers (or rather "ultimate life form-like" powers...he seems an awful lot like Shadow if he had no idea how to control his abilities). Plus, around this time Knuckles is dealing with some issues between him and his girlfriend's family and past so I'm just going to leave things alone here.

So ya, sorry to all the Knuxouge fans and just Knuckles fans in general, but to be fair, he was kind of shoe-horned into the original game to begin with and the hunting stages were my least favorite part anyway. Right next to trying to find the damn chaos...

But Alysa! You may ask...how are they going to stop the chaos emeralds from driving the colony into the face of the earth like an oil drill?

Well! I say with a devious smile You're just going to have to wait and see! All in good time, I promise. I'll give you a hint, however, in this chapter.

In any case, here's chapter two!

* * *

10:12

Hedgehog Residence, Knothole Village

Bernadette the Hedgehog was normally a very quick, level-headed woman; smart as a whip and ready for action at any given moment (Sonic had to get that from _somewhere_ no offense to her dearest husband). There were very few things that had truly shaken her over the years. Funny thing about that, they all had to do with her family. This was no exception.

Her son was missing.

Although under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been a big deal. Sonic was always off exploring or having fun with his friends, as long as he was home for dinner, there was nothing to worry about. Her and Jules had talked about it in serious detail before coming to the conclusion that they were too late to be overbearing parents. Especially after all that Sonic had accomplished while they were...away. It was a hard decision to face; considering the last time she had seen him he was barely able to walk, much less be a hero. But then, she was still trying to get to know the son she'd lost so long ago.

Then again, after dinner the previous night he had seemingly gone straight to sleep. Normally Sonic was really good about telling them when he was going somewhere. But now... that skunk that could easily send him to jail was outside her house asking where Sonic was.

"Staring at his empty room isn't going to solve anything," she thought quickly.

"Is everything alright Mrs. Hedgehog?"

Bernie wished she could say she had heard Geoffrey St. John coming up behind her. She'd been a soldier before he could crawl, and a great one at that. Still, she couldn't help but feel grateful for her metallic face; completely incapable as it was to show emotion of any sort.

"I completely forgot he left early this morning," she lied smoothly, "Jules, dear, do you remember where Sonic said he was going?"

"Oh that's right!"

Jules came up behind the skunk, his equally emotionless face giving off the sound of someone slightly embarrassed, if deeply amused by the situation, "Sonic went to go see Tails to go check up on him. We invited him to dinner with us and he declined, said he was working on something. You know how boys are."

Geoffrey regarded the two of them with suspicion before he asked tentatively, "I have reason to believe Sonic had left Knothole last night to participate in a dangerous mission to Robotropolis. You're sure he was a good little tyke asleep in his bed all night?"

Once again, Bernie was grateful for her prone face, "I think you may be mistaken. You see, Jules and I don't sleep.

"Not a wink," Jules put in, "Part of the hardwiring you see."

"And we haven't heard a peep all last night."

"I saw Sonic this morning too," Jules put in, "Just before he left to go see Tails, in fact. Why do you believe it was our boy that you saw at your mission last night?"

That gave St. John pause before he gave a sigh and said, "I just want it clear that you remember that your son is just a kid. One that should be enjoying his childhood while he has it. More importantly I want you to remember the dangers that could be out there waiting for him and all the trouble he'd been getting himself into before you two came home. I'd hate to think you're encouraging him to grow up far before his time."

Bernie felt as though she had been slapped. As if it were her fault that she and her whole family minus her son had been roboticised. Enslaved to a crazed overlander for nearly a decade before her son had finally saved them. But then she took in Geoffrey's appearance for a moment. While Geoffrey's face was passive, his whole body was tense. Bernie wondered at that before she remembered that his father had passed in the line of duty while Geoffrey had still been a child himself.

"We understand that," Jules interrupted her train of thought, "But I'd also like you to remember that _we're_ his parents. We may have been gone a long while, and the thought of all the danger he's been in all this time is painful enough without remembering just how we got there in the first place. But we're here now."

He reached out to Bernie and she snaked a hand around his waist and placed her hand in his hand, "We've got him from here, Mr. St. John."

"Was there anything else we could do for you?" Bernie asked.

Even though Geoffrey's face and posture hadn't changed in the least, he gave a small sigh and shook his head, "Just make sure that bloke stays out of trouble."

"You just leave that to us," Bernie affirmed before pulling gently out of Jules' embrace and leading Geoffrey to the door. He took the hint and left the house silently fuming at not having caught Sonic.

"Not yet at any rate," Bernie thought fearfully as she closed the door and quickly turned towards her husband.

"Where is he really, Jules?" she asked quietly, hoping Geoffrey wasn't trying to listen on the other side of the door.

Jules paused before he shook his head, "I have no idea. I'm sure he's just with Tails at his house though. You know how our boy is. He's like a wanderer, can't sit in one place for longer than a minute. We'll go check on the both of them later today...when the skunk has stopped sniffing around."

* * *

Over the City: 13:27

"Sigma alpha 2, heading due south over the city..."

Sonic groaned lightly before he gently opened his eyes.

"We're en route, everything's a go!"

He took in his surroundings quickly, as he did most things. He was stuck in a small room with all of the overlanders who had captured him. He wasn't tied down completely, just his wrists and no one was paying any particular attention to him. No one was even aiming a gun at him.

"Not the smartest thing they could have done..." he thought with a smirk.

But the whirring sound and the occasional swerve told him something else, "I'm in the air..."

"This is control tower, we have you on radar. Report cargo status of captured hedgehog aboard, over."

"Cargo status," Sonic thought offended, "That's lame. I'm out of here!"

"That's a ten-four. Cargo secured on board and..."

Sonic used that as his cue. He quickly curled himself into a ball and shot himself forward, into the gut of the nearest overlander sitting just across from him.

"What?"

Sonic quickly curled out of the ball and slammed his heel into the jaw of the overlander to his left, then using that as leverage slammed himself into the overlander directly beside the one he had initially taken out. He continued to slam around the cargo bay of the helicopter until everyone had been knocked out. He took a minute to root around for a key to his cuffs before he finally found it laying innocently on the floor. He quickly uncuffed himself before he took a minute to take in his surroundings.

"So...I don't know how to fly a helicopter. I better just split."

"I didn't copy that, over."

"The hedgehog has taken out everyone aboard and...What in the world!?"

Sonic hurled himself against the side of the helicopter, shaking it a bit before the door gave and plummeted to the earth below him. The wind took hold of him immediately and he felt that perfect wave of adrenaline hit him like nothing he had felt in a long while. He grabbed hold of the first thing he could, one of the missiles on the side of the copter.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing!?"

He didn't even look back at the copilot that was screaming at him to come back inside. He didn't care. He was all in now. He flipped himself as hard as he could against the wind. Thankfully it was just enough to send him up and around on the wing of the coptor. He slowly stood himself up, just as he would if he was flying with Tails in the Tornado. He mentally cursed himself as he wondered how he was going to get down. He then looked to his feet with a shrug before he ripped out one of the panels from the wing.

"Talk about low budget flights!" he said with a sneer, "No food or movies? I'm out of here. I like running better..."

He placed the make shift snow board on his feet, where funnily enough there were two dents just perfect for his feet to fit into. He then gave a cocky smirk to the copilot who was staring at him with mixed fear and awe before he jumped off the wing. He felt that joyous rush of wind as he dropped to the city below him. He felt his smile broaden as the earth seemed to come up to greet him. Sonic gave a great cry of freedom as he sent himself into a tailspin, just for the pleasure of knowing he was finally, completely free.

He then twisted himself upright just as he hit the ground. It was a pretty serious shock at first, but then, he was used to dealing with a lot of force. He hit the slope at full speed with the makeshift snow board throwing sparks behind him. Even with the grinding noise behind him, the feeling of being out and on a board again just felt so natural. Even more so as he found numerous robots waiting for him.

"Can't say I'm familiar with the 'bots from GUN..." he thought with a smirk as he finally came to the end of the hill and ditched the board, "But I bet they smash just as nicely as Egghead's..."

* * *

GUN HQ 20:17

"So... I take it you still haven't found either of the hedgehogs?"

Team Sigma Alpha 2 stood bowed in shame in front of Commander Brass.

"We're still keeping tabs on Sonic the Hedgehog as he's taking down bots throughout the city. However, there have been no signs of the Project within our sphere of influence."

"It's been seven hours, team," Commander Brass said warily, "What exactly have you been doing?"

Their lead winced as though struck. It was true they'd spent almost 7 hours trying to find both the loose Project and Sonic the Hedgehog. They'd sent out innumerable amounts of fighter bots to the cause. They'd been able to locate and even track Sonic for a while this way; but the second the bot had found him he'd destroy the thing and any bots in the immediate area. It was hard tracking him but then they weren't trying to capture him just yet.

"Sir, the Project has not been located yet," their leader answered, "However, we've managed to take control of the pyramid base in the desert. If the Project would go anywhere, it will likely head up to the Space Colony Ark. The only way to get there without a space ship was to use the teleporter within the base. Further more, the Colony itself has been secured, Sir!"

Commander Brass nodded, "There's that I suppose. Other than the Project not showing up, this is all going rather smoothly. Granted, I had no idea that Blue Hedgehog would actually jump out of a moving helicopter, but having Sonic running around the city reeking havoc will give us a reason to arrest him in public at least."

"About that sir," one of the team raised his head, "Why did we capture Sonic to begin with? Why waste the resources capturing someone who was once our ally when we should focus on the Project?"

"And why risk angering the Kingdom of Acorn by taking one of their own so close to their borders?" their leader added.

Commander Brass gave a small smile, "The Kingdom of Acorn is not in any position to retaliate at this point. They're too close to Eggman's borders to risk moving any troops or any main operatives against us. Not that they would anyway. We've found information about Sonic that says his relationship with the crown is slipping rather precariously. I doubt they'll move to help him much once we've arrested him publicly for destroying military property.

"But why we needed him to begin with...I'd rather no one outside of GUN knows about the Project at all. Sonic looks and move rather remarkably like the Project. If anyone were to see him, they would believe him to be Sonic, who we are looking to arrest at this point..."

"Which would make it much easier to find him in our borders without exhausting our resources or having to answer odd questions," the leader smiled, "That works I suppose."

Commander Brass nodded, "I believe that's enough games in the city. Take Sonic into custody. Once we have him, we'll release a story the next day about his escape and that will get people onto the Project without worrying about where Sonic is..."

"Commander! We have an urgent message from the Pyramid Base!"

Commander Brass' eyes widened as he walked briskly towards the soldier who had just yelled behind him.

"What happened, soldier?"

"Dr. Eggman has been sighted just outside the perimeter of the base!" the soldier said breathlessly, "And he's armed to the teeth this time, sir!"

* * *

Pyramid Base

20:22

"Swatbots inbound just behind you, sir!" Snively cried through the communicator in Eggman's console, "But sir...are you sure it's particularly wise for this to be the testing ground for the Egg Walker?"

"Bah! I don't have time to do any trail runs for this thing. It's either now or never," Eggman replied impatiently, "Besides, as long as those Swatbots are behind me, there should be no issues."

"...Yes sir."

"And Snively?"

"Yes sir?"

"Any other time, I would expect some sort of back-stabbery at this stage," Eggman began, "But this plan of mine is too crucial for any games today. Should I fail in this initial strike, they will take the time to double the guard and I will have to waste even more precious resources just to gain this small bit of ground. If those Swatbots are not behind me while I'm fighting, not only will I download myself into the next Eggman in my slot, I will personally delete your information and your shell will be used for spare parts. Am I clear?"

"Y...yes sir."

"Good. Now back to work!"

Eggman cut off the connection and faced the base once more, "Three Swatbots are to stay behind me at all times! The rest of you, surround the base and destroy all GUN robots and operatives. I have no time for prisoners today."

He then began to move the walker forward. It was awkward working with it. Unlike his Eggpod, it rocked as it moved. But it moved quickly and without any misstep. Just as well, the sand below the stone platforms made by GUN were too unstable for the walker to be in. He would have to stick to that path if he wanted to get to the center of the base.

"Very well. Let's go!"

* * *

GUN HQ

22:25

"Why isn't anyone taking him down?!"

"He's replacing his units too quickly! We can't even get a read on most of them. That mech of his won't let anyone too close..."

"He's a walking sniper's target. Just shoot him already!"

"The swat bots have already taken out all of the snipers and... oh...no... please no no NO!"

There was a heavy gunfire for a short burst before a deep silence permeated the room. The Commander heard a faint, "Clean this mess up! We have a mission to finish up..."

Someone on the other end of the communicator fumbled with the receiver before they heard Doctor Eggman himself.

"Now you know why I am the best!" he said with a deep mocking tone, "Just so you are aware, you can't win against me. Anyone who comes within a mile of my new desert base will be shot down, blown up and/or forcibly joined with the Eggman empire."

The other end disconnected. After a few minutes of silence another soldier awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Sir...there's something else."

The Commander took in a shaky breath before he faced the new man standing beside him, "What happened now?"

"We...we've found the Project sir."

"Where?"

"In the city...it's all over the news right now. He's robbed the National Reserve Bank. He's taken one of the city's chaos emeralds."

The Commander's heart dropped to his stomach at that news. Still he stiffened up and began barking out orders.

"Our first priority here is to secure the remaining 3 chaos emeralds we have! Find Sonic and the Project and arrest them. Send them all to Prison Island! Sigma Alpha 2 team, I'm splitting you up to teams. Rico, I want you and Spike on hedgehog duty. I'm sending you both to separate police stations to take jurisdiction over the search for Sonic and the Project. Take whatever you need from the armory. Once captured you two will then be personally responsible for each hedgehog. Honch, you're going to head up the transfer of the chaos emerald and organize security for the emeralds once on the island. Dutch, you and Vincent will head to the pyramid base. I want Eggman out of there. Take whatever you see fit from the armory while I organize the troops still up in the space colony. Once you've taken the base back, Vincent will stay to secure the base. Dutch, you're coming up the Ark to take leadership of the men and equipment. We'll make a two pronged attack against Dr. Eggman through the teleporter. The Project has most likely told the Doctor of the...equipment on the Ark. The last thing we want is for him to secure the Ark as a base. Any strike will have to be either by teleporter or by space ship, both of which the Doctor will be prepared for. Absolute worst case scenario...we may have to take down the Ark. Am I understood team?"

"YES SIR!"

"Then hop to it men!"

With that Paladin Team Sigma Alpha 2 ran to the armory to begin their respective missions.

* * *

Downtown Station Square

20:57

"Just what the doctor ordered..."

Sonic was resting lazily on a pile of boxes in the middle of a loading dock behind some buildings. Despite his appearance and the days activities, he was only slightly winded and fully alert to any sounds. It was a skill he had honed and developed after years of Eggman's tyranny.

"Not that I'm worried or anything," he thought with a smirk, "Once you've seen one badnik, you've seen them all.

Still, after all that trouble, he had no idea why he had been arrested. No one had told him why or even where he had been going before he'd jumped out of the moving helicopter. He briefly thought St. John had had a hand in that, but then...

"Too complicated for him," he decided, "I don't think Sally would have liked that much either."

Speaking of St. John...

"I should get back home," he said aloud, "I don't need to be wanted in two countries. 3 if you count Robotropolis."

He pushed himself off of the boxes before he fell into a stretch, "Besides, this game of tag is boring. 7 and a half hours and no takers? I'm outta here."

Suddenly behind him, he heard a loud crash of metal on concrete. Sonic turned to see one of the humans that had captured him earlier that morning in the cockpit of a huge mech. It stood about 7 feet tall with a large cockpit set on two thick green legs with red and yellow accents. On its "shoulders" sat two large yellow boxes filled with what Sonic suspected were missiles.

"Finally decided to show up, again?" Sonic smirked, "I could go one more round then. Bring it on!"

"You're going down hedgehog!" a voice cried out coming from the cockpit, "Spider-troop Big Foot, reporting to headquarters. The hedgehog has been located."

Sonic gave a small snort before he shot into action. At the same time, there came a whirring sound from behind the mech before it started hovering over the ground. It hovered around the ground, shooting at Sonic at odd intervals. Sonic dodged at every turn, enjoying every second of the battle.

"Too slow!" Sonic cried, "My turn!"

He slammed himself up underneath the hovering mech only to bump his head and fall back into the ground. Sonic rubbed his head painfully before he looked up at his enemy. There wasn't even a scratch on it.

"Made of sterner stuff then?" Sonic pasted his signature smile back on, "You may be a tough guy on the outside, but I bet you're a real softy on the inside!"

He then took in his surroundings before noticing the boxes lying around the docking station. Instantly he sped towards the boxes, using them to gain more height. He then slammed himself repeatedly into the cockpit of the mech. Each time he hit it, it left more and more damage on the glass before it finally shattered. The pilot inside tried to reach for a weapon on his side before Sonic brought his hand crashing down on the controls, pulling out numerous wires with it. The mech shuddered before crashing down to the ground while Sonic jumped out to safety. The pilot was left dazed in the mech, bleeding and concussed from the fall and Sonic's attack.

"For just...one hedgehog?" he said before finally passing out.

Sonic simply gave a thumbs up, "And straight to the scrap pile with you!"

Sonic took a few deep breaths before he turned away from the junk pile behind him, smacking himself in the head.

"I should have asked him why I was arrested before he was knocked out," he said wearily, "I should at least check to make sure he's ok..."

He looked back towards the mech only to see something that wasn't there before.

"What?" he thought in surprise.

He wasn't prepared to see another mobian in Station Square, much less another hedgehog. The word around him was dark and it set Sonic immediately on guard around him. He had black fur with red streaks flying through it. He was standing on the mech, as though he had conquered it, not Sonic. His face held a look of deep satisfaction.

"Interesting," the dark hedgehog commented, "You managed to take down one of the human's pathetic creations."

Sonic glared back at the hedgehog, "You see one bot, you've seen them all."

The hedgehog smirked back at Sonic, "I see. I think I could use you."

Sonic put himself back into a battle position, "Ya, well I'm not something to be used. What do you want?"

The hedgehog turned behind him and pulled something out to show Sonic. It was green and shined in the moonlight, "It all starts with this. A jewel containing the ultimate power..."

Sonic's eyes widened as he recognized that jewel, "That's the Chaos emerald!"

Sonic's face worked into an angry snarl as he looked back to the pilot and up at the smirking dark hedgehog.

And saw his opportunity to go home without getting arrested.

"I get it now. You stole that emerald from them. The military mistook me for the likes of you," Sonic put on a sneer to match the dark hedgehog's, "So...where do you think you're going with that emerald?"

The other hedgehog only stared back, his smirk fading from his face.

Sonic snarled and burst forward, "Say something, you faker!"

All Sonic heard as he sped forward was a loud cry, "Chaos Control!" before there was a flash of light and the hedgehog was gone. Sonic managed to see the hedgehog speeding past him on his left before he pivoted and found him on a building just behind him.

"Wow...he's fast," Sonic thought.

"You're using the emerald to warp around, you cheater!" Sonic pointed at him accusingly.

The hedgehog simply gave a dark chuckle before he looked back at Sonic, "My name is Shadow. I am the world's ultimate life form. I don't have time to play with you anymore today. Farewell."

There was another flash of light that caused Sonic to give a small gasp before he shielded his eyes.

"Shadow...what is he?"

Sonic lowered his hand before he heard something else that gave him the chills.

"DON'T MOVE!"

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

"KEEP YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR!"

Sonic looked round to find that he was completely surrounded, with not just the pilot from the crash up but another of the guys from his abduction this morning. He was about to speed out of there when two nets encapsulated him and sent him down with an electric shock.

"No...not again..." he thought before he was met with absolute darkness.

* * *

Ok! So that's chapter 2. Not much new information here, but that's for next chapter, where I showcase everyone's reaction to Sonic's capture and Shadow's plans for the Ark. I'm not the best at action scenes, but I'm hoping to get better with those as I move forward with this. Just let me know what you think or what you'd like to see and I'll be happy and grateful to receive feedback! See y'all later!


End file.
